A project is proposed to continue development of reagents and methods for coating fabrics used for medical applications, that will protect both health care workers and patients from transmission of pathogens, such as HIV and hepatitis viruses. The proposed methods will use photochemistry for covalently coating nonwoven fabrics with both hydrophilic photopolymers and hydrophobic photoreagents such that a single layer of fabric will be highly wettable and absorbent on one side but highly resistant to liquid strikethrough. The hydrophilic photopolymers used to make the fabrics wettable are also designed to inactivate lipid-enveloped viruses and many bacteria. The feasibility of achieving these characteristics was indicated during Phase I by synthesizing hydrophilic photopolymers that inactivated vesicular stomatitis virus and that, when immobilized, made melt blown polypropylene wettable and absorbent. It was further demonstrated that a thin hydrophobic layer of a fluorocarbon reagent could be photoimmobilized onto one side of wettable fabrics to achieve good liquid strikethrough resistance.
The specific aims are to further develop the reagent composition and an innovative immobilization strategy to achieve the desired characteristics, including, on a single nonwoven fabric layer, absorbency on one side, resistance to liquid strikethrough, moisture vapor transmission and virucidal (at least a five log reduction) and microbicidal activity within the fabric, with no leachables.
Success of this project will provide reagents and methods for coating fabrics used for surgical drapes and gowns, that will provide greater protection from transmission of blood-borne diseases. The market for medical fabrics, to which this technology will apply, is over $2 billion per year.
